Husband, Father, Chaplain, Geek.

Mark Driscoll on Emerging/Emergent, orthodoxy and orthopraxy

2009-02-16T19:49:00.002-05:00

Lord willing, I want to be an agent of change

2008-12-17T16:53:00.000-05:00

I am working through Nate Larkin's book, Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood, and got this quote from a review of the book:

"In the course of its evolution, the church has managed to shed many of its original qualities. Two of these are the devotion to truth and the brotherhood of all men, which often appear to have been replaced by the devotion to keeping up appearances and competitive piety."

I'm not going to harp on what has been inserted into the church, because I could do that all day. I'd like to help bring back the original qualities, especially the brotherhood of all men. I need it.

Quotes to read every few weeks

2008-11-20T16:34:00.000-05:00

Daniel Spoto, in speaking of Francis of Assisi - "Stories of saints too often describe them as essentially perfect, always pious, suffering without complaint, ever clear about their commitment and destiny. How much more credible and moving are the accounts of those who endured struggles to remain true to their beliefs. Whatever one takes it to mean, saintliness is not a position one attains or state of life one achieves, the way one is called a doctor after receiving a medical certificate. However we chose to discuss it, holiness is certainly a lifelong process, and genuine saints probably never think about it. Their energies are directed toward God, not toward a consideration of their own merits or excellence. Most of all, their lives proclaim to the world the existence of a reality that transcends it."

Be safe.

2008-08-18T23:49:00.003-04:00

Funny Sign
Originally uploaded by tenioman

Ugh. Just Ugh.

2008-07-24T10:23:00.003-04:00

You can see more at Ed Stetzer's photoblogging of a Christian Retail Convention. Some of it's funny, almost all of it is sad.

UPDATE: I'm trying to figure out the "Premium Christian" moniker. Does that mean that they also sell plain "Christian" sunglasses? Just wondering.

Yes, I did.

2008-07-16T10:58:00.003-04:00

I bought my daughter a Star Wars shirt.

A photo of mine was used by the government!

2008-07-11T15:58:00.002-04:00

I'm not one to toot my horn, but this made me feel really good.
I was contacted via Flickr by someone from the US Green Building Council in Louisiana. They wanted to know if a picture I had taken of a swamp in South Carolina to use as a header for their website! I told them yes as long as they would credit me. They agreed and now my picture is part of their site!

Go here to see the site (picture on top, name on the bottom). You can then go here to see my Flickr stream. The original picture (they cropped it) is here.

Worship wars, 19th century style

2008-07-08T14:14:00.003-04:00

Dan Kimball posts some excellent examples of how the church has always opposed change in it's music. You can click to his 2 articles (and some good comments) here and here. Here's a few snippets:

Charles Finney in 1835 wrote that there were still in his day "many churches who would not tolerate an organ. They would not be half so much excited to be told that sinners are going to hell as to be told that there is going to be an organ in the meeting house."

How about this letter:

"I am no music scholar, but I feel I know appropriate church music when I hear it. Last Sunday's new hymn - if you can call it that - sounded like a sentimental love ballad one would expect to hear crooned in a saloon. If you insist on exposing us to rubbish like this - in God's house! - don't be surprised if many of the faithful look for a new place to worship. The hymns we grew up with are all we need."

This letter was written in 1863 and the song they were concerned about was the hymn "Just As I Am".

While this got some laughs out of me and a few others I read it to, it was strangely encouraging to me that change in our methods and styles have always been a struggle, but thankfully change comes. Granted, I never want to lose proper orthodoxy, I am glad that the dissenting voice above didn't have their way. Think about it: Could you imagine a Billy Graham crusade WITHOUT "Just As I Am?" I couldn't.

Choice reading of the day

2008-06-24T17:39:00.002-04:00

I wonder if this is the reason I don't read as deeply as I used to...

Click on "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" to read a fascinating take on the Internet and the way we process information.

Thank God for my wife

2008-06-24T16:15:00.001-04:00

Trying to wrap my head around Lakeland

2008-06-24T00:19:00.006-04:00

I am trying to wrap my head around the Lakeland Revival. Let me first say that I have been to Brownsville twice ('98 and '02), and I have done alot of reading, watching, and listening to things going on in Lakeland because in my position I have alot of people asking me what I think about it and some are asking for help in discerning things they are seeing on Godtv and Youtube.

The truth is, I'm not ready to answer that yet. I would like to slowly, SLOWLY walk through some things I have read and get to a decision.

I would like to present portions of a post on a COG forum by Buck Marshall, a COG pastor and a ministry colleague of mine in college. It's one of the best summaries on a criticism of Lakeland yet. If you link to the full article, there's alot more.

Todd Bentley was completely foreign to me. I had NEVER heard of him before and had absolutely no opinion of him whatever. So….I watched. There were several things that struck me as problematic.

1. There was a lack of Biblical foundation but rather the experiential was exalted.

2. The demonstrative reaction to prayer was vaunted while the sick went unhealed.

3. There seemed to be a focus on Todd Bentley as though he was the force behind what God did.
First, Todd’s teachings border on heresy. He speaks of trips to the third heaven in a fashion that can only be described as New Age. It in fact mirrors that of those who practice out of body experiences, astral projection, and channeling. It does not follow along the lines of other experiences such as John’s in Revelation. Further, he makes claims of the Paul/Abraham co-authorship of Hebrews as revelation from his own “trips” to the third heaven. I find that completely untrustworthy. He focuses on Angels in such a manner that would make any Biblical angel rebuke him for attributing to them what only belongs to God. He prays to them instead of God. That is not merely extra-biblical like say, “gold teeth filling” but is absolutely UN-biblical! The messages he has preached are so un-sound in doctrine and Biblical theology it makes one wonder how he began preaching in the first place. He even claims to have been possessed with 25 demons AFTER he was a believer and operating in the prophetic! This is simply impossible according to scripture. There are many passages to debunk that assertion but look no further than 1 Cor. 10. So, with no sound doctrine to offer and erroneous teachings at best and heretical theology at worst I began to really pay attention to this minister.

Secondly, there were many, many, many people who shouted, danced, and fell down but I didn’t see one miracle. I wanted to. I really wanted to. There are so many cameras there. There is so much attention focused on this thing. It is not like the Toronto or Brownsville revivals in scope. Those were an earlier time technologically. Now, this revival is taking advantage of live broadcasting not just on TV but on satellite networks, streaming live on the internet, posting clips on YouTube, podcasts and it is even available on your cell phone. So, I really wanted miracles to happen as a sign to unbelievers….but they didn’t. Oh, there were plenty who claimed to be healed but they were of the variety that could not be verified. So, Iet’s not doubt them. Let’s suppose that God is healing them through the ministry of this guy. So, when they wheeled the girl who had cerebral palsy onto the stage….I wanted to see her limbs begin to change. I wanted to see her gain proper motor function. Nothing happened. When the girl came onto the stage with a tumor that was literally HALF the size of her head….I wanted to see it shrink like the ones the other people claimed had. He told her it would happen later in her bed. That was convenient. WHY….we have the cameras ready….let’s see this healed and send it to every cell phone…every iphone….let His glory be on display and become the most downloaded video on YouTube since Star Wars Kid and the Numa Numa Guy. Now, I understand that not everyone gets healed and all the disclaimers we in the 21st century American church use to stop praying for the sick and not feel bad. And, I suppose that would not have been as big a deal if he hadn’t done what he did. He prayed for those two and then immediately instructed the cameras to get a shot of his stage. Many people on the other end of the stage had fallen down and were shaking on the floor. He said, “Look what God has done. Look at how my stage is messed up.” No, turn the camera back on these two girls who desperately need a touch from God and let’s not stop praying until they are healed! Let’s get all the millions of people watching on tv’s, cell phones and computers to start praying for these two people until they are healed! I can’t shake these people….I pray for them every time I think of them. I guess I want less show and more prayer. Not BAM!!! and fall down….but more focused, earnest, continuous prayer.

Thirdly, it just seemed to all be about him (Todd). His anointing, his stage, his ministry, his experiences, his opinion, and his support. I am really hungry to see revivalists and even a lot of Christian television ministers with less ego. Philippians talks of Jesus humbling, lowering, and emptying himself. It is not a position of weakness. Yet, those who stand in a place of leadership too many times do not follow his servanthood example.

So, I am disheartened by this revival. The fault lies not with the people who are going. It lies with the leaders. I have real questions about this minister. I will not go so far as denouncing him as a fake…I just think he has really bad theology and the church as a whole has done a very bad job of training him and/or holding him accountable. We can point fingers…but, we have a lot of that in the CoG as well. We have a lot of Pastor’s with really bad theology. They fill our pulpits every Sunday and no one writes one word about it. I think that is probably the greater problem.

The 3,000 mile oil change debunked?

2008-06-23T13:35:00.003-04:00

Greencar.com has a article that will make Jiffy Lube mad. Real mad. Why? They say that in most cases, 3000 miles is too soon for an oil change. The article discusses how the development of synthetic oil and engine technology have made the normal change necessary at the 5,000 mile mark. Read more at the jump.

The 3,000 Mile Oil Change Myth

Think about this on a wallet level. The average oil change runs $25 or so. If you drive 25k a year and change diligently every 3000 miles, that comes to $208 a year in oil changes. But if you switch to every 5000 miles, that's only $125 a year. $83 a year difference.

The moral of the story is check your car manual. It will tell you what the manufacturer recommends, not what Joe at Wal-Mart thinks. Plus, if you can go at 5k, then that $83 you saved can go to get your tires rotated and balanced a few times, which not only extends tire life but keeps you under warranty (most tire warranties will void if they determine you haven't been getting regular rotations).

Things you should never forget

2008-06-18T14:51:00.002-04:00

Vintage Brennan Manning

2008-06-17T15:29:00.002-04:00

Pray for our chaplains

2008-06-09T19:30:00.001-04:00

I ran across this on my daily blog walk..... please pray for our chaplains serving abroad as they serve our men and women in combat.

War's Stresses Takes Toll On Chaplains

Holy. Cow.

2008-06-02T23:51:00.007-04:00

The Nashville Tennessean posted a potentially explosive article about the future state of the Southern Baptist Convention from outgoing President Frank Page, who was surprisingly elected in 2006. The actual article is here, but let me give you a few snippets:

"If we don't start paying attention to the realities … by the year 2030, we will be proud to have 20,000 rather than 44,000 Southern Baptist churches,'' Page said. Page believes the 16.2 million-member convention faces the same challenges that bedeviled other Protestant denominations — lower birthrates, aging demographics and a culture increasingly hostile to Christianity. In response, churches tend to circle the wagons and hang on for dear life.

Me again: So the SBC shrinks in half, not because it has no choice, but because the churches refuse to innovate and adapt? Wow.

Page: "You've got massive numbers," he said, "maybe not a majority but massive numbers of evangelical churches out there, yes, Southern Baptists also, who are small groups of older white people holding on till they die."

Me yet again: The article has a bit more on SBC politics. Being raised an "independent" Baptist, I've never been too connected to SBC life, but I was shocked to read that Page's election was the first time they've ever had to actually vote for a President- the convention has always been a rubber-stamp ceremony. This year, they have 6 up for the spot. The fact that the SBC is just now getting around to having real elections with real choices makes Page's predictions that much more startling. How far behind is the SBC?

The wife and I are strongly considering an SBC church for membership, and while I think the political intrigue of the SBC is not quite so important at the local level, I still like to learn about the cart I'm considering hitching up to. In some ways I hope Page is wrong-- but if the losses he predicts are just dead weight, than I'm inclined to say that I hope he is RIGHT.

Coming back

2008-06-02T21:48:00.003-04:00

So yes, here I am. Oh, you huddled masses, I know how you have missed me so. The clamor for my blogging to return is so high that I cannot ignore it any longer. So without further adieu, I return....with a video.

Legalism explained well

2007-12-03T13:32:00.000-05:00

Now I'm not voting for him, but Mike Huckabee does make a great summary on legalism:

Legalism is the reduction of the whole of the Bible to a rather limited system of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ that the one espousing already lives. By carefully limiting ‘right and wrong’ to those beliefs or practices one already adheres to, the legalist is able to always be right and never wrong. Convenient system to be sure. It requires no struggle of conscience, no agonizing soul-searching, no brokenness. Others aren’t judged by the character of Christ, but by the behavior of the legalist.

Legalism is not limited to the theological camp of the conservatives, moderates or anyone in between or beyond. Like a worthless weed, it grows in whatever soil it is planted and is capable of choking out anything that gets in its way without ever producing fruit of value.

Biblical faith is sure about God, but never so sure about self. Legalistic faith is sure of self, and may or may not be as sure of God and His Word. A legalist questions everyone else’s motives and mission, but never sees a need to question his own. A strong Christian is not only interested in believing right, but living right. A strong Christian should want others to be more like Jesus, not more ‘like me.’

We do not live under ‘Lord Law,’ ‘Lord Tradition,’ ‘Lord Religion’ or even ‘Lord Belief.’ We are saved when we confess ‘Lord Jesus.’ When He is Lord, we learn a new ‘L’ word – love. Jesus said that the world would know we belonged to Him not because we worship the same, believe the same or even live the same, but because we love one another.”

Henri Nouwen

2007-09-27T16:27:00.001-04:00

When we are ready to die at any moment, we also are ready to live at any moment." - Henry Nouwen

Doctrine or law....what do you want?

2007-09-24T11:45:00.001-04:00

clipped from www.theocentricpreaching.com

What pastors need to understand, we are told, is that we live in a complex, fast-paced, ever-changing culture. It is naïve to think that preaching the gospel is sufficient for life and godliness. To be sure, the high priests of Christian therapy will say the Gospel is important. But, what one also needs to know is the secret of the Christian life, the secret to prayer, the secret to happier marriages, the secret for successful parenting, the secret for financial freedom, the secret of the abundant and overcoming life.

In other words, what the culture of therapy is really saying (albeit not always consciously) is, “Don’t give us gospel (i.e., doctrine) give us law (i.e., tips, principles, action steps, takeaways, secrets, etc…). However, a life based on legal principles rather than upon gospel principles will never lead to obedience. Such a life will ultimately fail in obeying God because law of any kind never stirs up one’s heart to obedience (cf., Rom. 7; Gal. 3:3).

More on doubt with another Newbigin quote

2007-09-24T11:32:00.001-04:00

How does God speak to humanity? A blog commenter offers this quote from Leslie Newbigin's "Truth and Authority in Modernity".

clipped from commongroundsonline.typepad.com

"The other possibility is that divine revelation should be a matter of public history. In that case it can be only in events that are limited to a particular time, place, culture. But the whole ongoing course of human history cannot be frozen forever at a particular point. Revelation takes place only if...it is internalized, made part of a living human consciousness that must necessarily be the consciousness of a human being living in a particular time, place, and culture. It is therefore hard to imagine how there could be any other divine revelation authoritative for the whole of human history except one that embraced the three elements we have noted above: a living community, a tradition of teaching, and the continuing work of the divine Spirit illuminating the tradition in each new generation and each new situation, so that it becomes the living speech of God for that time, place, and culture." (30-31)

Dependence and doubt

2007-09-24T11:08:00.001-04:00

clipped from commongroundsonline.typepad.com

Does it not follow then that the only way a deceived person begins the process of seeing the world aright is by a bold admission of his self-deception. In other words, a confession of his emptiness must come before the spell can be broken and he begins to listen to the words of the all-seeing, all-conditioning, and never-deceiving God.

This, I suggest, is the definition of faith. Faith cannot be a “work.” It can only be an admission of an inability to work. In our evangelical world, we have raised a generation of young people who have been told that faith is “asking Jesus in your heart” or “accepting him as your personal Lord and Savior.” Therefore, they are a fickle, doubting crew, at best; and, at worst, they have raced right past the first step of true Christian experience: utter dependence.

Where does division begin?

2007-09-20T15:17:00.001-04:00

clipped from gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com

Okay, a final thought:
I recall an old blogosphere friend named Robert Williams saying, about the accusation of divisiveness against the critics of homosexual ordination in the Episcopal Church, that it was not the critics who were being divisive, but the proponents of homosexual ordination.
I use the same logic. There is the Gospel, and there is the not-Gospel. To criticize and name those who preach and profit from the not-Gospel is not being divisive; the division began with the deception. The unity is broken not at the point of criticism, but at the point of departure from the Gospel.

I and others rebuke works religion and self-help gospelism not to break unity, but to preserve it. To preserve it not around everyone's protected feelings, but around the glory of Jesus Christ.

Ha. Ha.

2007-09-20T12:35:00.001-04:00

Just ask them back

2007-09-05T12:39:00.001-04:00

Another article on why people are leaving church, but this one includes some things that are bringing people back. One is simple....

clipped from www.outreachmagazine.com

The power of the invitation

Perhaps one of the most underestimated reasons people return to the Church is that someone simply invited them back. Overall, 41% of the formerly churched said that they would return to the local church if a friend or acquaintance invited them. Younger adults are even more influenced by the power of the invitation. Approximately 60% of those 18–35 would consider returning to church if someone they knew asked them to come back.

A simple, yet powerful invitation is all it may take to prompt a homecoming for the dechurched. Is your church equipping people to invite others back? When someone strays from the church, friends and family should be there to encourage him or her to return.

Can you really argue with success?

2007-09-05T12:05:00.000-04:00

This is a great parable told by the Internet Monk about church growth and the "new" church that is modeled by the likes of Joel Osteen and co.:

“A Parable for our Seeker-Sensitive, Purpose-Driven, Church Growth Oriented Friends”
Make sure you read the comments after the parable as well, they are just as interesting.

News about Ted Haggard (immorality), Randy and Paula White (divorce), and Juanita Bynum (domestic abuse in her 3rd marriage) have got the blogosphere talking again about the prosperity gospel-- more importantly, the failures and dangers of the message.

It's hard to argue with success. It's hard to argue to people that Joel Osteen has issues when his membership is above 15,000. It's hard to argue with Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland when they own multiple luxury cars, personal aircraft, and STILL have large followings. It's not like these guys are like Robert Tilton or Peter Popoff. The only difference to me is that the others haven't been caught yet......

UPDATE: I'm not saying Osteen and Hinn use radio transmissions or have committed physical fraud. I'm just saying that nothing has happened to critically injure their efforts as has happened to Tilton and Co.

I guess I am just tired with the idea that God is an investment strategy with a guaranteed return on investment and that material and physical success is guaranteed to me when Scripture is so clear that storms and troubles will come. On top of that, why do we teach people to strive for riches when Jesus makes it clear that rich people will have a VERY difficult time getting to heaven?

I saw an anonymous commenter say that the prosperity message is primarily broadcast through the power of "The Balaam Network". I googled the phrase, wondering if this was some wacked-out group. Then it finally hit me......

He was referring to TBN.

That's a conversation starter if I ever heard one.

Data on the Exodus (from church)

2007-09-04T13:06:00.001-04:00

clipped from blog.christianitytoday.com

A new study reported by USAToday finds that a high percentage of young adults who attended church while in high school stop attending by age 23.

70% of young adults drop out of Protestant churches, and 34% do not attend even sporadically after age 30. That means at least one in four young people who leave the church never return.

"This is sobering news that the church needs to change the way it does ministry," says Ed Stetzer who directed the study. "It seems the teen years are like a free trial on a product. By 18, when it's their choice whether to buy in to church life, many don't feel engaged and welcome," says the associate director Scott McConnell.

"Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza. There's no life transformation taking place," he says. "People are looking for a faith that can change them and to be a part of changing the world." It seems spiritual formation, not just spiritual entertainment, may be what young people are seeking from a church.

The front fell off!

2007-09-04T12:07:00.000-04:00

http://view.break.com/352629 - Watch more free videos

The theatre is losing it's luster

2007-08-30T01:24:00.000-04:00

I am getting close to a year without darkening a movie theater. Shocking for a guy that is a movie geek like I am. Part of it is that I have a baby, and well, babies don't work well in theaters. Second, movies are just not what they used to be.

4 years ago, if you said that in ONE summer, an Ocean's Twelve sequel, a Fantastic Four sequel, Spidey 3, Shrek 3, a Transformers movie, and a Pixar movie were coming out, I would have been at opening night for 4 of those at least. I would have seen them and been pretty satisfied. But I don't know if I will see any of them in the theater. I didn't even mention Pirates 3.

Why? Several reasons:

1. Sequels are getting worse. Bottom line: it's nearly impossible to catch lightning in a bottle twice and thrice, but studios keep trying. Spidey 3 is so awful that even die hard fans I know told me to avoid it. The others I just don't care enough to drop $15 for me ans the wifey to see.

2. Visual effects don't matter as much as they used to. I'll take story over visuals any day now.

3. Netfix: watch 30 movies in a month for the price of 2 tickets. This is where quantity wins out. Plus, no one gets mad at home if the baby starts crying. I have almost 100 DVD's in my queue right now-- in other words, more to watch than I could in a year. Don't forget TV shows and online viewing.

4. Television is getting better. Battlestar Galactica. Heroes. Lost. Not to mention CSI, Scrubs, Monk, 24. I haven't even mentioned Rome. Heck, I left out alot of good TV.

The bottom line? I may be moving into a phase of life where movies just don't matter much to me anymore...and it's kind of comforting. Am I still a geek?

Microsoft Designs the Ipod

2007-08-28T12:38:00.000-04:00

Barna on struggles- not good news

2007-08-20T09:28:00.001-04:00

clipped from www.ministrytodaymag.com

"Many of the same people who claim that their faith is very important to them and that they are absolutely committed to Christianity also say that they face no spiritual challenges in life,” Barna says. "Americans focus on what they consider to be the most important matters; faith maturity is not one of them.”

So how do we avoid fostering a faith that only knows how to drive one way down Easy Street? It's beginning to sound like a broken record (check out our previous blog), but it's as simple as relationship. Person-to-person ministry that challenges an individual and, at times, even gets in his or her face with biblical truth. "Ministry is most effective when it addresses the specific needs of each person on a one-to-one or few-to-one basis," Barna says, echoing the point. "The data underscore the importance of people knowing and ministering to each other in a very direct and personal way, recognizing the uniqueness of every person and their journey."

What if the Internet crashed?

2007-08-06T13:10:00.000-04:00

A Thomas Merton Prayer

2007-08-03T11:26:00.001-04:00

clipped from nextreformation.com

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton, “Thoughts in Solitude”
Abbey of Gethsemani

C.S. Lewis and conceit

2007-07-02T11:08:00.001-04:00

Quote provided by inwardoutward.org....

clipped from www.inwardoutward.org

By C. S. Lewis

When I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and wouldn�t go to the churches and Gospel Halls; I disliked very much their hymns which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren�t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.

Source: Surprised By Joy

Looking for answers again......an old problem

2007-06-18T16:54:00.000-04:00

Scot McKnight quoted an author that stated something that sounds like it was written last week:

“Hostile to the church, friendly to Jesus Christ.” These words describe large numbers of people, especially young people, today. They are opposed to anything which savors of institutionalism. They detest the establishment and its entrenched privileges. And they reject the church — not without some justification — because they regard it as impossibly corrupted by such evils.

That sounds very 2005ish; but it's older. How old?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Try 1958!

The author? John Stott, Basic Christianity.

But here's the questions I have:

1. Is the church impossibly corrupted?
2. Does the church deserve another chance?
3. If we abandon the institutional church, will the thing we create in it's place get institutionalized as well?

Hmm..

Looking for answers...Nooma series with Rob Bell

2007-06-18T16:47:00.000-04:00

Henri Nouwen on substituting love

2007-06-14T10:32:00.001-04:00

I am beginning to think that every new Christian should read Nouwen....he is climbing up there with C.S. Lewis in my opinion as essential Christian thinkers. This Nouwen quote is courtesy of inward/outward.

clipped from www.inwardoutward.org

What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life…. The long painful history of the Church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led…. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.

You want to see a butterfly? A poke on tract evangelism

2007-06-11T23:19:00.001-04:00

I used to own tracts, but I never liked them. Even as a kid, I though they were cheesy. As I grew older, and several complete strangers gave me a tract on the street, I got a very sour taste when I encountered them, because it felt so impersonal and cold. Most people that gave me a tract didn't even ask me my name- it was as if they were filling a quota over actually connecting with me. Here's a little humor on the the topic from The Core Blog...

clipped from www.thecoredowntown.com

Here... I've got one smashed in this book somewhere... aha! Here it is! A pipevine swallowtail... very rare. Yes, I realize the colors are a little dull... it is dead after all. But this way you can look closely at it... study it. You can turn it over in your fingers and catalog its parts and know everything you need to know about a butterfly, with none of that silly running around in a meadow to worry about!

You wanna see Jesus?

Hmm... oh yes! Here's a tract.

Today is Windows 3.0 Day

2007-05-22T15:56:00.000-04:00

Today is the 17th anniversary of Windows 3.0. For all the griping I hear about XP, this makes me thankful that we've gotten a little better since 3.0.......or have we?

Windows 3.0 memories

Where have I been?

2007-05-08T13:42:00.001-04:00

Civil War Chaplain
Originally uploaded by leestudent.

I have been switching to a new job in a new town and went almost 10 days without internet access. Mix in a sick baby, visiting in-laws, and regular life, and you get no blog. We'll be back soon. Here's a pic of what I'm doing now.....sort of.

Emerging Wednesday- motives for evangelism?

2007-04-22T00:02:00.001-04:00

clipped from www.jesuscreed.org

First motive: evangelism; secondary and apparent motive: helping out. Some see through the thin skin of that secondary motive and think they’ve been used or had.

There are two possibilities here as I see them: either one does everything for a chance to evangelize or one sees all acts of kindness “a new kind of evangelism” or “the goodness of the gospel itself.” Let’s add a third: do all things with the hope that one can evangelize but waiting patiently for that chance. Let me suggest something and it comes from this Christian conviction: God redeems in Christ and our vocation is to live in that story of Jesus by performance and proclamation.

Too cool to pass up- chairs!

2007-04-18T21:09:00.000-04:00

This is just to cool to pass up....

Photo Monday- Mark Twain sign

2007-04-16T11:12:00.000-04:00

Mark Twain
Originally uploaded by cinemafia.

I'm part of a group called Falling Apart on Flickr that Jason started......this is one pic from the group that I liked. Go to the flickr page (just click on the picture) to see my comments and more info on the group.

Where is Nerdy Thursday?

2007-04-14T11:16:00.000-04:00

As you may have noticed, Nerdy Thursday has disappeared. To be honest, I felt like all I was doing was linking, and while linking is ok, I realized that most of my posts I bookmark on my del.icio.us. So for awhile Nerdy Thursday is on hiatus while I rethink the strategy. You can check my del.icio.us links on the left for a plethora of all things nerdy.

Emerging Wednesday- Christianity and social justice in a postmodern world

2007-04-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

Vanguard Church discusses some of the issues facing the church in the field of social justice-- specifically, how should the church converse with postmodern people in regards to social justice? Here a few snippets that grabbed me.

clipped from vanguardchurch.blogspot.com

Ministry that is properly situated to reach postmoderns embraces postmodern ideas about evil. We affirm the “will to power” that points out that we human beings (both individually and in our institutions) consistently abuse power in order to oppress others and to further our own agendas. We affirm that we should be careful not to trust others too far.

We affirm that Auschwitz and brutal World Wars and even current empirical power grabs by the governments of the West prove that our supposed morality is questionable at best. We affirm that even those who are religious are not immune to the bent human need for power

A Christian movement that displays the grace of Jesus Christ in righting injustices speaks to the postmodern heart and mind. It says that God knows that the world is not the way it should be. It says that God is indeed doing something about it. It says that the ultimate solution to these problems is God…God hanging on a cross.

Photo Monday- Tree in the Clouds

2007-04-09T14:52:00.000-04:00

Tree in the Clouds
Originally uploaded by Pencils and Pixels.

Emerging Wednesday- Christ's strategy

2007-04-04T11:41:00.001-04:00

A portion of a great series from Signs of Emergence about Christ's "strategy" in regards to how he carried out his mission and vision. I thought this would be something a little Easter-y but something different.

clipped from kester.typepad.com

what Christ is doing when he stays silent at his trial is refusing to even enter the game that the strategists plotting against him have set up. It is as if he deliberately loses, because by losing he is totally subverting the very idea of the game.

And this is where Paul and Judas go terribly wrong. Presented with amazing opportunities to 'do something for Jesus', they fall into strategy, they throw their chips in and enter the game. Why didn't Paul imitate Christ and keep his mouth shut? Because his strategy was always to get taken to Rome, and to take part in a 'power play' with Caesar.

On the cross the religious leaders taunted Jesus - if he's so powerful, why doesn't he save himself? This was the final temptation Jesus faced, the same one the devil ended with in the desert: take part in the power play. Jesus emptied himself of all that power, emptied himself of strategies, because he had to be emptied of the Self - the Self that pretends that it is powerful and influential.

How often do we go with Jesus' strategy, and how often do we follow Paul and Judas? I shudder at the thought of what we would find if we polled it.....

Photo Monday extra

2007-04-03T21:39:00.001-04:00

kaffee.satz.lesen
Originally uploaded by besides.

I'm making up for the lack of recent posting, and I'm on a Shure SM-55 kick. I wish I had never gotten rid of the one I had.

Photo Monday- jazz

2007-04-02T21:34:00.000-04:00

Look Sharp
Originally uploaded by Rod Monkey.

I love Flickr, if I haven't said that before.

I love jazz.
I also love Shure SM-55 microphones, like the one in the picture.
What else here? The angle, the tones, the LOOK of the subject is just great. Maybe one day I can strike a cool pose like that.

Emerging Wednesday- burnout

2007-03-22T10:16:00.000-04:00

I have never been a big fan of the "Superman Pastor." While attending college preparing for ministry, I vowed I would never let myself experience burnout and would never try to run my own show and do everything. While I think a little age and maturity have shown me that avoiding that may be harder than you think (passionate people have a hard time holding themselves back), I still think that if you as a pastor can remember a few key points, you're well on your way:

1. The pastor isn't supposed to do it all. I'm not a C. Peter Wagner follower, but one book he wrote, Pastors & Prophets, makes a really good point: pastors shouldn't and can't wear all the spiritual hats in a body. He/she is not supposed to be the pastor/teacher/apostle/prophet/elder/evangelist/caregiver. It will kill them to try to do it all.

2. Some pastors are bad at doing anything other than pastoring. Let's be clear: a pastor is someone that fosters relationships and communes with others in fellowship through life. They comfort, guide, and share with others and serve them. That doesn't make them a good preacher or speaker, though, and that's part of the problem. Some pastors need to get out of the pulpit, and some preachers need to just teach and let someone else run the church. We have titled people as "pastor" when they aren't, and we have asked pastors to be things they are not.

The paradigm problem is that the "pastor" is in charge, and only he can be the mouthpiece of what God wants to say on Sunday, and that's not healthy. Why? Because I don't think the pastor can hear EVERYTHING God is saying and I don't think one man can convey that message to the right people at the right time.

I was fortunate in 2005-2006 to work in a church where the head man was willing to share his pulpit, and all the leaders rotated and shared the pulpit. Some were better than others, and sometimes I wished someone would skip their turn, and sometimes I thought someone had something going and should go a few weeks in a row. But the overall beauty was that the congregation got to see the hearts of their entire leadership, and the church experienced the Word of God and the heart of God from different perspectives, different voices, and different styles. It was refreshing!

The problem is that if the "pastor" is relieved of the majority of preaching, then what are you paying him for? The idea would be that he is more free to pursue community development, counseling, relationship building and visitation. But how can you measure that? Will logs have to be kept? Would he have to report his minutes? The reason I bring this up is because tithers will want to know where there money is going. I don't like that, but it's going to be an issue.

I'm going to ramble more on this later....

In other news, the Cubs are 0-1. Surprised?

Photo Monday- U.S.S. Enterprise

2007-03-19T14:00:00.001-04:00

Originally uploaded by jbwest.

An A-6 Intruder getting in position for takeoff on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, CVN-65. There is nothing extraordinary about the shot, but I love the color texture- very brown, almost reminiscent of WWII era photos- but not so brown as to be antique. A very nice mixture of modern imagery with a retro look and feel.

An atheist's experience

2007-03-16T15:15:00.001-04:00

This is a quote from an atheist that visited 30 churches to study what impressions they would leave him with. Look at what he was left with....

clipped from www.internetmonk.com

Clearly, most churches have aligned themselves against non-religious people. By adopting this stance, Christians have turned off the people I would think they want to connect with. The combative stance I’ve observed is an approach that causes people to become apathetic—and even antagonistic—toward religion as a whole. Many evangelical pastors seem to perceive just about everything to be a threat against Christianity. Evolution is a threat. Gay marriage is a threat. A swear word uttered accidentally on television is a threat. Democrats are a threat. I don’t see how any of these things pose a threat against Christianity. If someone disagrees with you about politics or social issues or the matter of origins, isn’t that just democracy and free speech in action? Why do Christians feel so threatened?
You need to spread the message of Christianity—the message being what Christianity stands for—loving each other, helping the people around you. Those are things everyone can get on board with.

Nerdy Thursday- Adobe alternatives part 1

2007-03-15T16:19:00.000-04:00

If you use the internet to any degree, or work at a company that has standardized documents, then you have used Adobe Acrobat or the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Acrobat files, commonly known as .pdf files, are becoming a standard that usually trumps Word, mainly because you can create the .pdf file, and anyone in the world can see it because the Reader is free.

I love Adobe, I really do (I am getting into Photoshop now). But the Adobe Reader is one bloated piece of software. It commonly occupies 20-30mb of RAM while running, not to mention the long load times, especially if you are trying to open a pdf through your web browser.

But if the internet has taught us anything, it's this: Give a nerd bloated and slow software, and he will get with other nerds, do their nerdy-thing, and make a new program that's less bloated and faster. The Nerds of the world have done just that for .pdf files.

The first thing is the .pdf reader, Foxit Reader. This is your replacement for Adobe Reader. It loads literally twice as fast as Adobe did on my home computer and my work computer. What's better, Foxit Reader only used 8mb of RAM-- less than half of what Adobe uses. So, if you're a multitasking person when you're on the computer, you will have better performance because more RAM is free to be used elsewhere.

Next week, we'll talk about a free program to make .pdf files yourself.

Emerging Wednesday- a sad definition

2007-03-14T22:27:00.001-04:00

What is a Christian? This clip is from Ryan Wiksell's blog, asking not what we Christians would define ourselves as, but what we may have allowed the world to define us as. Read on....

clipped from www.thecoredowntown.com

Christian: (n) An adherent to the western religious paradigm known as Christianity, identified by numerous cultural indicators, including: mandatory attendance at weekly religious performances, neat and tidy appearance, chipper attitude, straight-ticket Republican loyalty, big house less than 25 years old in an excellent school district, well-dressed and well-behaved children, homogenous circle of friends, SUV or minivan ownership, abstention from alcohol, tobacco and crude speech, upwardly mobile, and others of the like. Common usage: “I can’t let my family find out that my boyfriend got me pregnant; they’re Christians.” “I don’t want to work Sundays anymore; Christians are the worst tippers.” “Christians think that they can start a war, and God is always on their side.” (Source: The Non-Christian Worldview Dictionary.)

Photo Monday- yellow baby

2007-03-12T15:01:00.000-04:00

Two pictures to make up for the lateness:

First, my little girl sitting in the La-z-boy:

Secondly, my friend Jason is going through his Ireland trip photos on his blog, Typing With Light.
Today he featured a very yellow building, and it is in fact deliciously yellow:

Rental Bike
Originally uploaded by Jason Leslie Rogers.

Nerdy Thursday- Desktop Tower Defense

2007-03-08T15:10:00.000-05:00

Nothing is as exciting and terrifying to a nerd as the ADDICTING GAME. Sometimes it's Civilization I-IV, or another complex strategy tale. Others, it's a game like Puzzle Pirates.
You kind of expect to get addicted to games like these, because they are built for extended play and you can micromanage your nerdy brain out. Customization, managing, and creativity is the name of the game, and the more the merrier.

Then the VERY ADDICTING GAME comes along. This is the game that addicts you so fast and so hard you are addicted before you know you are addicted. This is the short, simple, yet challenging minigame I am talking about, my friends, and the new king of the VERY ADDICTING GAME is Desktop Tower Defense. In order to keep from addicting you, I won't describe it too much except to say it's a mesh of Centipede-Rampart-and any other build walls and stop the bad guys game. Basically, you build gun towers to stop baddies from making it across the screen. I can't say anymore-- it's too addicting to even discuss. Don't click on the link, if you know what's best for you. It's partly why I haven't blogged in a few days...

Credit card woes- Chase ending chronic fees

2007-03-07T13:40:00.001-05:00

One way credit cards get you is that if your interest and late fees push you over your limit, they slap you with an over the limit fee. Say you have a $1000 limit but owe $975. You miss a payment, so interest and the late fee pushes you to $1005. Guess what? Add a $30 over the limit fee. Now you owe $1035. But the minimum payment is only $25. If that's all you can afford, that means you still are over your limit. So guess what? You get another over the limit fee. The clip I have here shows a man that had $1500 in late fees. Fortunately, it got Congress' attention, and Chase is vowing to stop the chronic late fees. If so, kudos to Chase for doing something right.
The question is whether other creditors will follow.

clipped from news.yahoo.com

Srednicki said the company has decided it no longer will charge over-the-credit-limit fees to customers who have been in a chronic over-limit position for 90 days.

Wannemacher used a new Chase card in 2001 and 2002 to pay for expenses mostly related to his wedding. He had $3,200 in purchases, interest charges of $4,900, 47 over-limit charges totaling $1,500, late fees of $1,100, for total charges of $10,700 as of February. He paid $6,300, leaving a $4,400 balance — which Chase agreed to waive after he contacted the subcommittee staff.

"Debt seems to invoke a feeling of hopelessness unlike any other problem I've encountered," Wannemacher testified at the hearing. "When a debtor calls you on the phone and you make a minimum payment, you know that you've made no real progress and that in a month, they will be calling again."

Emerging Wednesday- theology by Bono

2007-03-07T10:12:00.000-05:00

Bono from U2 recevied an award from the NAACP for his Red campaign, and had this to say about God and the poor:

"Whatever thoughts we have about God, who He is or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble of the cries that we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor. And God is with us, if we are with them."

The quote is even more striking because he pointed it directly at the church, specifically "those in the church who sit in judgment". Ouch. What does it say to the world when Bono is making more sense to them than the church is?

Photo Monday- water displacement

2007-03-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

My friend Nathan VO captured this while his brother threw a rock into the Ocoee River. I am fascinated by water pics, so it was an instant Photo Monday pick.

Why?

2007-03-01T17:29:00.000-05:00

I am a baseball fan- I play Fantasy every year. I still think Babe Ruth is a greater player than Barry Bonds. That being said, why do people say that Ruth was a strikeout machine? In most of his career, he had twice as many walks as strikeouts. All-time, Ruth is 83rd according to Baseball Reference. So why have I always heard he struck out alot? I think it is the classic case of the motivational saying gone wrong. Whenever I heard motivational speeches that dealt with overcoming failure, it was always quoted that Ruth did lead in home runs all-time, but also led in strikeouts. If I ever hear that again, I may scream. Maybe.

Nerdy Thursday- Photoshop help

2007-03-01T13:38:00.000-05:00

If you're like most of the millions of normal, non-nerdy people, if you want a black and white picture, you change your digital camera to the black and white mode. But if you're a pro photographer, and/or a nerd, you shoot it in color then change it to black and white using Photoshop! How do you do this? Go the Digital Photography School's blog to find out.

Some rituals ok, some...not so much

2007-03-01T12:50:00.001-05:00

A portion of an article from the Internet Monk about communion. What I am clipping is his remark about the madness involved in saying one ritual is not necessary because repitition of it will lead to it being meaningless, but other rituals won't share the same fate. I have never understood that.

clipped from www.internetmonk.com

In my Baptist upbringing, we were frequently told that weekly communion turned the supper into a meaningless, rote ritual. Roman Catholics and those in the “Disciples of Christ” churches were examples. Of course, this same standard didn’t seem to apply to preaching, the offering, choir specials, hymns and, of course, the offering. It is was always obvious to me that the kinds of demeaning language used in describing frequent communion was not rooted in the Bible, but is simple prejudice: we don’t want to be like the Catholics.

Emerging Wednesday- what it heresy? apostasy? schism?

2007-02-28T14:48:00.001-05:00

Just about everyone throws around words without knowing what they really mean-- especially religious folks. In reading all about the emerging movement, and theology in general, it's amazing how quickly the words heretic, apostasy, and schism are so commonly invoked. But what do they mean? Well, here you go.

clipped from kenn.typepad.com

APOSTASY, the most grievous of the three, is a complete and utter rejection of the faith (“denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ”). That is clearly not the aim or purpose of the emergent church movement as I read them.

SCHISM means separating from the universal Church because of unwillingness to be constrained by unity. I think the emergent movement might be guilty on this count, but so is Calvary Chapel, and most of the Christian church. More on that some other time.

HERESY is an intentional or rejection of an essential element of the faith as outlined in the three creeds (Apostle’s, Nicene, Athanasian) embraced by all four streams of the universal Church (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican). False doctrine and heresy are synonyms.

Photo Monday- my girl @ 8 weeks

2007-02-26T18:00:00.000-05:00

From Baby Ladd- th...

The week off

2007-02-26T17:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the unscheduled hiatus. I know all 1 of you were really disappointed. I have always wanted to try to journal or write about my life, but never kept up with it. This blog is the most consistent I've ever been, so I was a little disappointed that I missed a whole week. Work was crazy and I was too tired to come up with good stuff at night-- I don't want to put up filler crud just so I can say I posted.

We'll get back on schedule this week. We'll talk about some Star Trek for Nerdy Thursday, some baby pictures, maybe some Civ3 and Photoshop fun, and some Henri Nouwen on Wednesday- maybe.

Photo Monday- Bangor Abbey, Ireland 2002

2007-02-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

Bangor Abbey, Ireland 2002
Originally uploaded by leestudent.

For this week I'm self-indulging. This is a shot I took in Ireland in a place called Bangor in Northern Ireland. The light at the top of the spire is not Photoshopped- I somehow managed to capture that naturally! While the church is a bit dark, I think it's still a great shot. Taken with a Canon Rebel 2000, using some Kodak Supra 400 film.

Nerdy Thursday- A Prairie Home Companion

2007-02-15T15:39:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things on Saturdays is to be out driving and stumble upon A Prairie Home Companion on the radio. Hosted by Garrison Keillor, it may be on of the few true radio shows left in the world. The problem is that I can never consistently find it on the radio- one week it's on one station and the next week it's somewhere else; apparently in my neck of the woods it's syndicated randomly.

Thankfully, Mr. Keillor is now podcasting the program through Itunes and the like. Details are here.
If you have never heard this before, check it out: it's funny, relaxing, and radio at it's best.

Photo by Dana Nye

Emerging Wednesday- inerrancy, Amazing Grace, and choice sermons

2007-02-14T12:48:00.000-05:00

A movie called Amazing Grace is coming out on the 23rd. It stars Ioan Gruffud as William Wilberforce, the British Parliament member who helped end slavery in the British Empire decades before America abolished it. Early reviews I have read are promising, and the trailer looks good. I intend to see it in theaters and support it. Oh, there's some connection the the song Amazing Grace as well, if you hadn't already figured that out. For those out there that want a total surprise, I won't say what the connection is.

Tagged onto the movie's release is a movement to have as many churches as possible sing Amazing Grace on Sunday, Feb. 18th. While there may some PR here to promote the movie, the website for this (http://www.amazinggracesunday.com) talks quite a bit about the resurgence of the slave trade in some parts of the world. I might just add our house church to the list....

While attending Lee University, one of my favorite chapel speakers was Rev. Joe Novenson, pastor of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church near Chattanooga, TN. He is an amazing teacher that presented the gospel in a humble yet powerful way that still captures my spirit. I was pleased to discover that many of his recent sermons are available as mp3's on the church site for free. In a day where many pastors are charging $20-30 for sermon sets (something that REALLY bothers me when the price is exorbitant), it is refreshing to see someone of great anointing and talent willing to share it freely.

Now here's the one that'll get somebody mad- I am studying this whole topic of biblical inerrancy. Since I was raised in rather fundamentalist circles, believing in an inerrant text is kind of a given, so it was never discussed. I have been reading some excellent posts from internetmonk.com on the subject and am encouraged for one reason: you can still believe the bible is true even though it may not be inerrant. Most fundalmentalists will say that if the bible is not inerrant, then you:

1. Can't take the bible as true anymore.
2. You are claiming that God made mistakes, which he can't do.
3. You doubt the Spirit's ability to rightly inspire the authors of the text, or the authors' ability to hear it correctly.

In all areas of faith, Christians are always willing to concede that no matter how anointed a person is, or how much God uses them, they will still make mistakes and that's just part of the result of a perfect God communicating through an imperfect man. But when it comes to Scripture, that argument is completely dismissed and somehow that fraternity of bible authors managed to get everything correct down to the last punctuation mark. We always talk about how God can overcome our failing and still get his message across, but that doesn't apply to Scripture.

I'll be talking about this alot in the near future because I really want to understand both sides. I am starting with an intertmonk recommended series by Chris Tilling.

Photo Monday- Acibechería (flickr)

2007-02-12T15:35:00.001-05:00

Acibechería
Originally uploaded by Angel Tirado.

I'm a sucker for old stuff. Old buildings, old cars (the abandoned, rusted kind), and old junk. It's probably why I prefer London over NYC- London has this old feel that makes it timeless, while NYC is still relatively new.

Nerdy Thursday- Ecto 1 for sale

2007-02-08T15:31:00.000-05:00

If you are a kid of the '80s, then you are a Ghostbusters fan, or at least know who they are. Aside from the well-known logo, the other icon of the movies and cartoons was Ecto 1, the ambulance that the Ghostbusters converted into their official vehicle. One of my most vivid memories of childhood toys was my Ecto-1 car, that was big enough to put the figurines in. It may have been my most played with toy aside from Voltron and Legos.

The Ecto-1 used in the movies is for sale for a meager $149,998 (which is more than double the value of my home). It's been totally restored, if that helps your buying decision.

Emerging Wednesday- Jason Clark's polar views

2007-02-07T17:54:00.000-05:00

Jason Clark is one of the links I permanently keep on the blog for his insight and wisdom in the emerging conversation. He was one of the first blogs I ran into when searching out emerging resources and read him daily.

Plug complete.

Jason posted back in January about 2 "poles" of emerging ideas that exist. I will not recap the whole thing here, but go check it out because it is worth a read. His basic presentation is that there are 2 kinds of emerging Christians; the "post/anti-church" crowd, who is ready to abandon the traditional brick-and-mortar institution, because it is so far gone it is not worth saving. That's the "a" side. The "b" side is more reconciliatory, and willing to labor within the church to foster change. Jason talks about finding a middle ground between the two, as both have their advantages and flaws. Again, I'll let Jason's blog (and the great comments on the entry) speak for itself.

I'll soon be writing about my "emerging polarity" and where I might be heading.

5 weeks old

2007-02-05T16:25:00.000-05:00

Another baby picture-- already 5 weeks old! She's starting to smile more often, but her best forms of human expression so far are her contemplative and quizzical looks.

From Baby Ladd- th...

Photo Monday- frozen tidal wave

2007-02-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

Whenever National Geographic or the Discovery Channel has documentaries about surfers or hurricanes, I get fixated on the huge tidal waves that are breathtaking to watch. But then I found some FROZEN tidal waves, and they are just as impressive, if not more so. You can see more here, but these 2 seem to capture the idea best.

Your programming schedule

2007-02-05T15:26:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try and be a little thematic around here, mainly to have some order to my OCD brain. Since I am not doing this for "fortune and glory" (Indiana Jones, anyone?), I don't want to limit what I write about, but for my faithful 3 readers out there some continuity may make things more understanding. The randomness will still appear from time to time, but I'm going to try to include at least one entry a week in these topics, although the days are not set in stone:

Photo Monday- interesting, funny, pretty pictures I find on the internet tubes.

Emerging Wednesday- Since Wednesday nights are usually associated with church here in the South, I'll talk, muse, or link to something about post-church issues/questions/topics.

Nerdy Thursday- something from the Nerdery; computers, movies, games, gadgets, comics, who knows? It will be nerdy.

The other neat thing about this is that the labeling feature will allow to search for posts that only fall under these topics, so some of my blogging threads will stay continuous. I will also be going back to old posts and apply the new labels just to add some depth to the categories.

2007-02-02T16:06:00.000-05:00

I found this on the Google Reader blog today, and it reminded me of the big tree in my childhood home that my brother and I always wanted to build a treehouse on.

The image is from a webcomic called xkcd, but be warned: nerdery will ensue!

And now....irony

2007-02-02T11:20:00.000-05:00

Now for some irony!

A few weeks ago I got in the car to go to work. Jennifer left a banana peel in the car, and oh was it stinky. I parked at work next to an area frequented by crows the size of a small child. So in a moment of weakness, I tossed it out. I figured the mutant crows would eat it, or use it to build their condo.

So the next day, with the insidious peel out of my mind, I come to work on a rainy day. I take one foot out of the car, start to slide, and almost fall flat on my back. I look down, and lo, there is the banana peel in the same spot I left it. I'll never toss a banana peel again.

One Z-pac, no pickles

2007-02-02T10:36:00.000-05:00

So this month of February is going GREAT.

Not really.

Little AM has decided that sleeping at night is just so last month, and even if she does sleep, she won't do it unless held, which is really cute until about 3:00am. This is further complicated by my recent AOTC (Attack of the Crud)*, which got so bad I missed work one day and had to get a Z-pac, which is a wonderful antibiotic.

Then my new camera (which I will show later), was not delivered because I missed the Fedex guy by about 20 minutes. Since FedEx is so huge and diverse (read: needlessly overorganized), my package did not go back to the local FedEx facility where I could get it, but 40 minutes away to Chattanooga, where I could gladly pick it up, although no one at FedEx could tell me what time that facility could be open. Let me repeat that: FedEx could not tell me when their own building opens.

Oh, and did I mention my venerable Toyota is leaking antifreeze?

Well now that I have that all out, that's better.

*Not to be confused with Star Wars Episode II: AOTC (Attack of the Clones), although it was crud also.

One month away from being 2 months old

2007-01-29T16:24:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow marks 1 month since the birth of our daughter. I am still amazed at her and still amazed at the strength my wife possesses within her to not only carry and deliver the baby, but to love her immensely every day.

From Baby Ladd- th...

We are back at Lee, and while the apartment is familiar, it doesn't feel like home. That feeling, that sense that home is somewhere else, is something I have not felt in many years, and I found myself glad to feel it.

What I am NOT glad to feel is the gunk in my nose and throat. Please pray God heals me or that God uses the Mucinex in my cabinet to heal me, I'm not picky.

Replace memory hogs- from Matt Thompson

2007-01-29T10:43:00.000-05:00

From the nerdery--

This link is a list of free software apps that can replace Microsoft-brand programs. Why does this matter? Aside from sticking it to the man, these apps are great because they consume much less memory than your more standard fare, thus your computer runs faster. Yay!

Update: it's not just for Microsoft brand programs, but things like Adobe Reader, AIM, and the like.

Women in ministry?

2007-01-26T16:41:00.000-05:00

I won't get heavily into this debate, because I don't have the energy at the moment. If you want to get some interesting reading on the topic, check out Scot McKnight's blog-- he has been posting about women in ministry over the last few weeks.

I want to share this article that Scot references in one of his posts from The Dallas Morning News. Southwestern Baptist Seminary recently fired a female professor who was a graduate of the seminary and was hired by the seminary to teach Hebrew. But the university fired her because she is a woman, and a woman cannot teach a man according to the seminary and Baptist theology in general. They claim a "lapse" in practice of their beliefs as a reason why they hired her in the first place.

Apparently, this is also causing serious debate amongst Baptists as well, because the central argument is whether or not Pauline texts regarding men's and women's positions in ministry refer to the office of pastors only (thus a woman can't pastor a man) or also includes teachers as well. SBC pastor Wade Burleson gives a great argument about it on his blog. I don't know much about Wade, but apparently his quest to get to the bottom of the professor's firing is becoming quite nasty, and the seminary is even beginning to accuse him of slander, but then refuses to release previously public meeting records that would prove Burleson's claims. Doesn't sound very Christian to me.......

I'm still digesting the article, so I will hold my position....for now.

My pew- Cartoonchurch.com

2007-01-26T11:33:00.000-05:00

Growing up in a traditional Baptist church, I knew there were places you could not sit because that seat belonged to Mr. or Ms. long time member. Ushers would even direct visitors to a worse seat. Some of the ladies even had pillows they left in their seat 24/7, as a way to lay claim to that spot. So I laughed hard when I happened on cartoonchurch.com and this made my morning:

The Ministry Report: Play Money

2007-01-26T11:03:00.000-05:00

The Ministry Report: Play Money

An article from Ministry Today about money among ministers. I have seen this exact thing before and heard these exact same lines as well. Uggh...

The Ministry Report: The Devil in Burma

2007-01-26T11:02:00.000-05:00

The Ministry Report: The Devil in Burma

A report about Christian persecution in Burma. I run across these often, but this one struck me for some reason, so I wanted to share for prayer.

Shameless traffic building

2007-01-22T09:31:00.000-05:00

The best way to get hits on your blog? Pictures of your cute baby.

From Baby Ladd- th...

Settling in

2007-01-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

Boy, do I miss the internet. Not having it makes you appreciate it, and I think sadly towards those that never have it or have it without high-speed. We don't have it at the house, so we are coming over to Jennifer's work to check email and stuff.

I digress....

From Baby Ladd- th...

In other news, check my del.icio.us bookmarks to see some of the latest finds as I roam the internet. Thanks to the VO's for the album covers that make me laugh and cry.

Finally, the Ladd household is now cable-free as we go to Netflix. We already queued up over 25 discs, and are very happy with the decision. Since Netflix does TV shows as well as movies, its a much better deal at only a fraction of the cost. Let's face it, the library is bigger then any rental store, cheaper, and more convenient. Add an antenna for local stations, and viola! All the tube time we need. Plus that frees up internet funding. Ahhh, the internet.

Have a great weekend!

Our baby is here!

2006-12-30T20:50:00.001-05:00

Baby Ladd- the first month

Hiwassee Union Church- random flickr photo

2006-12-27T11:05:00.001-05:00

Hiwassee Union Church
Originally uploaded by P Henson.

So today is officially flickr day. This is from the same shooter that took the Enterprise Fire Dept picture I posted a few weeks ago. Reliance, TN is not too far away, I may have to go check this one out one day....

world trade center at night- random flickr photo

2006-12-27T10:26:00.001-05:00

world trade center at night
Originally uploaded by JB Photo.

I have many photo's of the WTC from my 2 trips to New York in 1997 and 1998, and there are thousands on flickr and the internet tubes. But this one caught my eye.

Emerging churches closely examined

2006-12-20T14:04:00.000-05:00

As I begin to study more about the emerging church, I find for every source of pro-emerging information I find, the more criticism I find. From what I read and see, there are many traditional evangelicals who seem to think that emerging churches are the new gnosticism and it will destroy Christianity as we know it.

The problem I see so far is that many critics are focusing on a small pocket of writers/speakers (Brian McLaren the main target) and stereotyping all emerging movements with them.

There are several different ideas on how big the emerging movement is and how many people are truly involved. While there are already some organizations like Emergent Village in existence, and some established emerging churches (like the Vintage Faith Church) exist. But if Barna is right and tens of millions are involved in emerging fellowships in the USA alone, then to criticize the whole movement based on a few opinions, well.....that's not exactly what I call scholarship. This totally leaves out that point that there are many people who probably are emerging but not even calling themselves that. Terms like organic, simple, and cell churches are in the mix too.

However, some help is in sight. Dan Kimball at Vintage Faith posted a small review about a book called "Inside the Organic Church: Learning From 12 Emerging Congregations" by Bob Whitesel, a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. The most interesting thing about the book is that it is entirely based on the author's actually going to emerging churches, attending the services, and talking to people in the church. I'll let Dan's review tell the rest.

I'm still working on this whole topic and still eating information about post-church movements; I'm not even to the digesting part yet. More on this later, including my reading list!

Baby Watch Part Deux

2006-12-18T15:29:00.000-05:00

Still nothing. Our daughter is teh funny. She even had the doctors fooled. So now we are settling in for the long haul, the original due date. We'll see what happens at that point. I am not getting my hopes up at all until the doctor says she can see the head. Okay, maybe I'll get my hopes up a wee bit before that. The good news is that so far the baby is in great shape and things look good.

Baby Watch update

2006-12-12T22:10:00.000-05:00

Well, no baby yet.
Jennifer is starting to have bouts of close contractions, but nothing sustained for an hour, which is the threshold for heading to the hospital. She had about 5-6 contractions about 5 minutes apart around 8, then they stopped for about an hour. The baby then started to hiccup for about 10 minutes. We just had 3-4 contractions in a row about 5-6 minutes apart, so we're crossing our fingers......

Mars at Sunrise

2006-12-08T20:01:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Wil Wheaton for pointing this out.....makes you really glad the Internet is around. Nasa keeps an image gallery that is an incredible collection of photos from years of research.

That's a catchy jingle...

2006-12-07T13:13:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a TON of reading this last week, and a couple of thoughts are bouncing around:

1. Unity or uniformity? Which one is more true to the way the evangelical community operates? Does uniformity get construed as unity? The latter is definitely easier to achieve...

2. We have many leaders who serve.. what we need are servants who lead. It's one thing to claim to be a servant of the people but later invoke that if they cross you you will fall out from under their "covering" (more on that later).

3. Compliance instead of commitment.

I'm still digesting these, so you'll see more on them later.....once I get off the cough medicine that's keeping me functional. Please pray I get over this before my wife goes into labor.

Missional Church Test

2006-12-01T16:54:00.000-05:00

I found this on JR Woodward's blog, Dream Awakener. The quote is from a missional theologian named Lesslie Newbigin:

"How can this strange story of God made flesh, of a crucified Savior, of resurrection and new creation become credible for those whose entire mental training has conditioned them to believe that the real world is the world which can be satisfactorily explained and managed without the hypothesis of God? I know of only one clue to the answering of that question, only one real hermeneutic of the gospel: a congregation which believes it." - Lesslie Newbigin

Oriental art

2006-11-29T17:48:00.001-05:00

Chinese/Japanese art
Originally uploaded by leestudent.

Using the Stumbleupon plugin for firefox led me to this picture. It had no references or source info, so thanks to whomever created it. From the old look to the color scheme to the details, I think it's really beautiful. I just wanted to put it out there for others to enjoy.

Henri Nouwen drives me FROM distraction

2006-11-29T09:32:00.000-05:00

I was perusing my Google reader (yes Jason, I am addicted), and read a blog post over at Next Reformation discussing the need to watch for the distractions of life drowning out the voice of God. The post ends with a quote from Henri Nouwen that I want to share:
“In a society in which entertainment and distraction are such important preoccupations, ministers are also tempted to join the ranks of those who consider it their primary task to keep other people busy. It is easy to perceive the young and the elderly as people who need to be kept off the streets or on the streets. And ministers frequently find themselves in fierce competition with people and institutions who offer something more exciting to do than they do.

“But our task is the opposite of distraction. Our task is to help people concentrate on the real but often hidden event of God’s active presence in their lives. Hence, the question that must guide all organizing activity in a parish is not how to keep people busy; but how to keep them from being so busy that they can no longer hear the voice of God who speaks in silence.

“Calling people together, therefore, means calling them away from the fragmenting and distracting wordiness of the dark world to that silence in which they can discover themselves, each other, and God. Thus organizing can be seen as the creation of a space where communion becomes possible and community can develop.” Nouwen,”Way of the Heart”

Enterprise Fire Department- random flickr photo

2006-11-29T00:00:00.000-05:00

Enterprise Fire Department
Originally uploaded by P Henson.

This reminds me of the row of fire trucks that used to be along Harrison Pike in Cleveland, TN. I especially like the fact that despite of all the decay on the truck, you can still see the name.

Pastors on the tightrope

2006-11-28T11:20:00.000-05:00

I went to college and earned a Pastoral Ministry degree. I knew enough from growing up in church and hearing snippets of gossip that a pastor can go from hero to pariah faster than you can blink. Always aware that being a pastor in a traditional church setting would be hard, I knew that it would be a tough life. I eventually decided that I would rather serve on an associate level, freed from the responsibility and the stress of being the man on top.

I want to present this article by Jim Rutz about the infamous Ted Haggard scandal. Jim's not really going to get into the specifics about what happened, but he is going to raise some hard questions about the pastoral position in American churches. This is exactly why I never wanted to be a "senior" pastor. Here are some snippets:

"Yet Ted was and is a saint, just like the rest of us who have genuinely been born again by the grace of God. Trouble is, we all have dirty habits. Ted was more like the reforming alcoholic who really wants to quit the bottle, except that he didn't have a close group of fellow alkies around to support him.

Ted probably has a personal prayer support team. But it's almost impossible for pastors to share their innermost problems, even with a select core of parishioner friends. The word about the pastor's weaknesses will eventually get out, and then he will be out of a job. It's lonely on that pedestal, and very slippery."

"We can blame Ted for not seeking help. But there is a much greater blame in this case, and it must be aimed at the pastor-centered church system that does not and cannot provide ongoing help and correction."

Ouch.
What really stinks is that the reason the help and correction is not there is because pastors often operate under a zero-tolerance policy, while those in the pews can make the same mistakes and as long as they make their weeping trek to the altar during revival week, they get off with little punishment. For pastors, correction is often a U-Haul and tarnished record. I've even heard of pastors who went out of state to get another church, and members of the church that fired him tracked him down and called his new church members and gossiped about the man, claiming they were operating "in love."

The dilemma for me is that I don't see how this can change within the traditional paradigm, because I don't think the traditional church is willing to give up the pastor pedestal as Rutz aptly calls it, so the problem spirals into a chicken or egg coming first argument. You need a new system to protect pastors and help them, but you have to eliminate the lofty perch they are forced to live on. Which one comes first?

The Day of the Ninja

2006-11-28T10:55:00.000-05:00

December 5th is the Day of the Ninja. Will you do your part and honor ninjas everywhere?
My main ninja source is Ask a Ninja; think Dear Abby if she were a highly skilled assassin.

Husband, Father, Chaplain, Geek.

Mark Driscoll on Emerging/Emergent, orthodoxy and orthopraxy

Lord willing, I want to be an agent of change

Quotes to read every few weeks

Be safe.

Ugh. Just Ugh.

Yes, I did.

A photo of mine was used by the government!

Worship wars, 19th century style

Choice reading of the day

Thank God for my wife

Trying to wrap my head around Lakeland

The 3,000 mile oil change debunked?

The 3,000 Mile Oil Change Myth

Things you should never forget

Vintage Brennan Manning

Pray for our chaplains

Holy. Cow.

Coming back

Legalism explained well

Henri Nouwen

Doctrine or law....what do you want?

More on doubt with another Newbigin quote

Dependence and doubt

Where does division begin?

Ha. Ha.

Just ask them back

Can you really argue with success?

Data on the Exodus (from church)

The front fell off!

The theatre is losing it's luster

Microsoft Designs the Ipod

Barna on struggles- not good news

What if the Internet crashed?

A Thomas Merton Prayer

C.S. Lewis and conceit

More questions...are we in trouble?

Looking for answers again......an old problem

Looking for answers...Nooma series with Rob Bell

Henri Nouwen on substituting love

You want to see a butterfly? A poke on tract evangelism

Today is Windows 3.0 Day

Where have I been?

Emerging Wednesday- motives for evangelism?

Too cool to pass up- chairs!

Photo Monday- Mark Twain sign

Where is Nerdy Thursday?

Emerging Wednesday- Christianity and social justice in a postmodern world

Photo Monday- Tree in the Clouds

Emerging Wednesday- Christ's strategy

Photo Monday extra

Photo Monday- jazz

Emerging Wednesday- burnout

Photo Monday- U.S.S. Enterprise

An atheist's experience

Nerdy Thursday- Adobe alternatives part 1

Emerging Wednesday- a sad definition

Photo Monday- yellow baby

Nerdy Thursday- Desktop Tower Defense

Credit card woes- Chase ending chronic fees

Emerging Wednesday- theology by Bono

Photo Monday- water displacement

Why?

Nerdy Thursday- Photoshop help

Some rituals ok, some...not so much

Emerging Wednesday- what it heresy? apostasy? schism?

Photo Monday- my girl @ 8 weeks

The week off

Photo Monday- Bangor Abbey, Ireland 2002

Nerdy Thursday- A Prairie Home Companion

Emerging Wednesday- inerrancy, Amazing Grace, and choice sermons

Photo Monday- Acibechería (flickr)

Nerdy Thursday- Ecto 1 for sale

Emerging Wednesday- Jason Clark's polar views

5 weeks old

Photo Monday- frozen tidal wave

Your programming schedule

And now....irony

One Z-pac, no pickles

One month away from being 2 months old